by Autumn Jones, marketing director
There’s one game which is so highly anticipated throughout the football season and rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars. This game is an annual tradition in the NFL and is the goal for every single team in the league as they play their hearts out in the sixteen regular season games. This year’s Super Bowl LII was held at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 4.
Leading up to the game, the Super Bowl Host Committee hosted a ten day festival called Super Bowl LIVE. The festival featured free concerts, ice sculptures, food, and other attractions. The activities were all held at Nicollet Mall, a twelve block portion of Nicollet Ave running through downtown Minneapolis. Super Bowl LIVE was presented by Verizon Wireless and ran from Jan. 26 to Feb. 4. Concerts included many smaller name acts, as well as a few larger name acts such as Rae Sremmurd and X Ambassadors. All activities were free of charge to those who attended.
To open the highly anticipated game, well-known pop singer P!nk sang the National Anthem rather beautifully, despite battling the flu the week before. She refused to give up what she considers one of the biggest honors and a dream of hers since watching Whitney Houston perform at the Super Bowl. P!nk gave a stellar performance, only struggling a little towards the end of the anthem.
The AFC champion New England Patriots faced the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles, with the Eagles winning 41-33. Going into the game, fans were skeptical of who would win. Mrs. Melissa Statman said, “It depends on which team shows up for the Philadelphia Eagles.”
The Super Bowl LII win was chalked up as a first for the Eagle’s throughout the entire franchise’s history, despite this being their third trip. Third time’s a charm, right? The Patriots’ returned to the Super Bowl for the tenth time, being the first team in NFL history to return with that record. As for records, the combined total yardage between the Eagles and Patriots set a new record throughout both regular season and playoff season in NFL history at 1,150 total yards.
How about we talk money? Want to purchase a 30 second commercial to be aired and seen by millions between plays during the game? You’ll have to shell out 7.7 million dollars. What about the tickets? An average Super Bowl LII ticket cost in the range of $2,500 to $3,000. Think that’s a lot of money? That wasn’t anywhere close to the most expensive tickets sold for the game. The most expensive tickets, costing a whopping $20,500, were for a pair of seats near the 50-yard line.
Justin Timberlake’s halftime performance included a tribute to Minnesota native Prince. He started the show with his song “Filthy,” from his new album which released on Feb. 2. The new release was followed by throwbacks such as “Rock Your Body” and “Sexy Back.” The entire performance was filled with energy, dancing, lights, and many transitions. He then wrapped up the performance with the tribute to Prince, which featured a projection of Prince singing “I Would Die 4 You” while Timberlake performed on the piano and sang alongside the projection. Deadline.com called the tribute a “botched performance,” however; senior Dominic Steiger said, “I enjoyed the tribute to Prince towards the end. It was a good performance by Justin.”
Many believe the fate of the game was sealed in the fourth quarter when Tom Brady was sacked by defensive end Brandon Graham and was recovered by the Eagles, giving them possession of the ball. Steiger said, “When I saw the fumble happen, I was singing the Eagles’ Fight Song for the next two hours and into the next day at school.” He added, “Overall it was a good game. We (Eagles) just wanted it more and deserved it more. The Patriots couldn’t match the intensity throughout the game.”
